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Dragon kill points
= Overview = Endgame loot distribution in MMORPGs is inherently unjust. Bringing down the endgame bosses is a joint effort of many people, while the loot received cannot be split and goes to single individuals. In order to rectify this injustice, Everquest players (see EQ Origins) conceived a system where all raid members received points for killing certain mobs, points which they could use later to buy the drops from endgame bosses. Dragon Kill Points is usually abbreviated with the acronym "DKP". In this article the broader term "loot distribution system" will be used, since not all such systems actually do use points. ;From MMORPG Lexicon at The Daedalus Project: :A fairly elaborate score-keeping system used by guilds to fairly distribute loot based on participation and contribution to the guild. Most raid groups eventually adopt a formalized loot distribution system. There are exceptions, but they are rare and are not the subject of this particular article. The variety of systems used is bewildering, typically each guild selects a basic type, and then specifies its own variations to fit its unique goals. The massive thread "I will tear apart your Guild loot system" is a great source for thorough discussion of many different loot systems. The thread author, Angelie (lvl 60 human priest from Ner'zhul) aptly states: "No loot system is perfect". Many parts of that thread are interated here, so they don't vanish as so many good forum posts do. = Purposes of a Loot System = The purposes of a loot system are many. Sometimes desirable characteristics are at odds, sometimes properties are a matter of taste. The following tries to be a list of fundamental, desirable characteristics which all systems should strive to achieve: # Everyone should be happy with the System - or at least, happy enough to avoid drama # Progress towards the guild's goals and joining guild events (i.e. raids) should be rewarded # Equipment that is an upgrade (even a minor one) for any person should not be disenchanted # Point inflation should not occur # Items should go to those who would benefit most # The System should be elegant, clear, and easy to understand # The System should be structured and unambiguous so that people can expect consistency in receiving items # A fair balance should exist between effort spent and reward gained for everyone (newbies and veterans) There is more to the last point above than the eye catches at first sight. Introducing newbies into an established raiding group is difficult. On one hand, the newbie should not be discouraged and should also be able to win drops. On the other hand, the veterans like to claim first pick on certain rare or high-value drops. Obviously, veterans need to have some advantage over newbies. But after a certain time, every newbie wants to have the chance to become a "full member", to gain the right to compete for each and every drop. One of the most difficult aspects when selecting and fine-tuning a DKP is getting this balance right. From which point on will a newbie have the same loot opportunities as an old member (assuming of course that the newbie shows just as much dedication to raiding as the veterans)? = Earning DKP = When considering rewards, it is most important to be aware what exactly is rewarded. Sometimes well-meant incentives lead to some degeneration. For example, if the bonus for turning up is high, people leaving early gain a profit. If points are handed out only directly after a kill, the motivation to join learning runs is low. Also be careful that the number of points going into the system isn't larger than the number of points going out, else inflation will arise. There are two widely used differnt ways to gain points: Plain DKP Some popular reasons to hand out points include: :On-time: at the starting time of the event, all members present receive a reward for punctuallity :Duration: At the end of the raid, a reward is given for staying for the duration :Time spent: For each hour spent in the raid, a certain amount of DKP is handed out :Boss kill: Each boss killed gives all raid members a certain reward Zero-sum DKP In a zero-sum system, everybody starts with a score of 0. This score changes only when loot is distributed. When a raid member pays DKP for some item (getting a negative score if neccessary), the expenditure is evenly distributed back to the raid. Thus no points enter the system from the outside, the sum of all members' point scores is always zero. In a zero-sum system, loot is usually distributed in order of available DKP, i.e. person with the highest score gets first pick. =Spending DKP= Both methods of gaining points can be combined with different ways to spend points: ; Bidding systems : When an item drops, an auction is held. There are many different bidding systems ; Variable price : In these systems the person with the highest point score gets the item, and then has to spend a certain amount which depends on other circumstances (e.g. all or half the points, as many as the next person etc.). ; Fixed price : All items have a fixed price which is known beforehand. In order of their DKP score, the raid members are asked one after the other wether they want to take the item. The person with the highest DKP total wanting it receives the item and pays the cost. ; Other loot distribution systems The most prominent of the other systems is Blizzards standard system. There are many variants using rolling, and there are the extreme ends of the scale - "Quickest fingers win" and "Loot council". See the article Individual Loot Distribution Systems for an overview and a detailed description of several different loot systems. = Issues = All DKP systems strive to resolve the following issues. No system is perfect, some resolve more problems than others. ; Boss importance : Not all bosses are considered equal. Nefarian is a tougher battle than Garr, who in turn is tougher than General Drakkisath. As a result, some players consider tougher bosses to be worth more DKP. ; Item importance : Not all epics are considered equal, either. Some have key stats that make them highly prized. Not only that, but what is a downgrade from one player's current gear may be the last piece in another player's coveted set. ; Inflation : In plain DKP, players have a tendency to accrue large amounts of unspent DKP, either because they're saving for some item, but in most cases because they've attended a large number of raids without seeing anything they want to bid on. As a result, more casual raiders can find themselves receiving nothing. ; Class bias : Some classes can end up with an abundance of DKP, due to none of their class-specific items dropping, or a dearth of DKP, due to a string of hotly contested items. The result is undue influence in either direction when members of that class compete for non-class-specific items - either they cannot win those items, or they clobber the bids of members of other classes. ; Lowballing : In bidding systems, some players may get away with an item for a very low price, simply because every other player on that raid didn't want or need the item, even though other players in system (but not in the raid) would have bid much higher. ; Disenchanting : Flip side to lowballing. In fixed-price systems, items may get disenchanted for lack of any bidder willing (or able) to afford it, even if there are players for whom the item would be an upgrade. ; Collusion : In bidding systems, players can potentially "fix" bids by agreeing in private tells (or outside of game channels altogether) to not bid more than a certain amount on an item. This allows members of that class to have more points to spend on other loot where there's competition from other classes (see class bias above). ; Draining : Another issue is when one or more players enter a bidding contest with a specific player just to push the price of an item up, and thus drain the point pool of the player in question, ensuring that this player will have to stay out of latter bidding contests. ; DKP for non-guild members : Since DKP is enforced at the guild level, it is often enforced only for its members. If for some reason a guild raid requires a player from outside the guild, the guild has to decide whether to extend the DKP system to that player. ; Delay : Some players may need time to consider and even discuss whether to bid. This is understandable at some times. At other times, it can hold up the raid. In one possible case, it can result in lost loot. For example, the Cache of the Firelord, a chest of loot that appears when a raid defeats Majordomo Executus, will eventually vanish, taking with it any unlooted items. = Variations = Every guild's DKP system is almost always different from every other. While the basics are fairly common to all systems, there are dozens of variations in the details. Variations are limited only by the imagination of the guild officers; a list of common variations follows. ; Standard phrases : To reduce confusion, some systems prohibit all raid chat during bidding, except for set phrases, such as "Bidding is open on item", "I bid x", "Bidding is closed", "going to player in 5 seconds", etc. ; Points for bosses : Most plain DKP systems assign a static point value for killing a raid boss. The simplest version awards one point per boss. Other versions award points based on the number of raid members required; e.g., 10-man raids award 1, 20-man raids award 2, 40-man raids award 3. Some systems are even more sophisticated, awarding points based on each boss' perceived difficulty; e.g. Lucifron awards 2 points, whereas Hakkar awards 3 points, despite requiring a smaller raid. ; Points for first kill : A guild's first successful kill of a particular boss is widely considered the most daunting. All raid members may be awarded a DKP bonus if they experience the guild's first kill; subsequent kills award the normal value. ; Points for tasks : Some systems expand "raid-related tasks" to include all activity that benefits the guild, like farming runs to acquire potions, runs for learning new encounters or donations to the guild item vault. ; Bank items : Some guilds auction off items from the bank for DKP, usually by way of their discussion forum. Guild members can thus enter a bidding contest outside of the raid setting where they spend some of their DKP in return for goods that the guild has accumulated through their raids. If the guild is good at selling items on AH and earning money for the bank, the guild might want to auction off fixed money bags for DKP. This in turn ensures that active players also got funds to spend on gear, potions, repairs and other needs. ; Points for attendance : A relatively small amount of DKP may be awarded to players who attend a raid, regardless of how far the raid goes. ; Points for time spent : A system which distributes points based on how much time each person has spent on the raid. ; Points for punctuality : Larger raids are often a pain to get started, as all members must set their real-life schedules, log onto the game, travel to the entry point, etc. Early arrivers may wait at the entry point for an hour or longer, when they could be doing other things. DKP is sometimes awarded for being at the entry point and ready to fight at the scheduled time, to encourage everyone to arrive at once. ; Points separated by instance : Some systems separate points earned in separate instances. For example, points earned in MC can only be spent in MC, points earned in ZG are spent only in ZG, etc. DKP are then often labeled MCP, ZGP, etc. to distinguish them. Separation by instance allows guilds using plain DKP to arrive at fairly good systems for awarding points for various bosses and tasks without having to consider all other bosses and tasks in the game, which means a player couldn't run an "easier" instance and earn unfair influence in bidding in "harder" instances. ; Points separated by class : Used as a remedy for class bias. Players earn DKP in separate piles: one to bid on with other members of their class, and the other to bid with other members of their raid. ; Point cap : Used as a remedy for inflation. Simply put, the total unspent DKP a single player may possess is capped at an arbitrary amount, typically the amount earnable in about 10-20 raids; that player may earn no more DKP until they bid on items. ; Tier bidding : Mitigates inflation. Bidding amounts are in set tiers, i.e. multiples of 10; players bid at tiers, up to the DKP they possess (or in some cases, the next tier up, resulting in some players have small negative amounts of DKP). ; Maximum bid : Mitigates inflation and draining. Alternative to tier bidding. Items may have a static maximum bid value; players may bid no more than this amount, no matter how many DKP they possess. ; Minimum bid : Mitigates collusion. Items may have a static minimum bid value; the winner MUST spend at least this much, even if they are the only bidder on an item. If free roll is allowed, players can still win an item without spending DKP; for this reason, some systems use forced disenchant or vend. ; Free roll : If no one wants a given item (or wants to bid on it), it can be opened up to all who can use, disenchant, or sell the item. No DKP is spent on a free roll, although sometimes such items are associated with some minimum cost (e.g. the value of a nexus crystal). ; Forced disenchant or vend : If no one bids on an item, some systems stipulate that the item goes to no one; instead, the item is either disenchanted (and the results are then rolled on, banked, etc.), or the item is vended or auctioned, and the money is then banked (or in extreme circumstances, divided evenly among the raid members). This is sometimes used to keep players from getting around the minimum bid rule. ; Forced bank : Certain items, reagents and crafting materials in particular, may be specified beforehand as automatically going to the guild bank. From there, they are turned into crafted items to be rolled on, possibly by all guild members and not just raid members. ; Gifts : On rare occasions, the guild or raid officers may decide to award items to key players (such as the MT or MH), either to increase the guild's rate of success on raids (and thus garner more DKP and/or rewards for all raiders), or to simply reward effort outside of the normal DKP system (e.g., maintaining the guild's website). Such gifts are arbitrary, and no transaction of DKP is involved. Obviously, there is a potential for abuse of this rule, so such gifts are typically only awarded when highly justified. ; Class adjustment : Remedies class bias. If certain player classes experience an imbalance in DKP possessed, some systems impose a modifier on bidders in that class, particularly when they bid against members of other classes. The modifier may be either additive or multiplicative, and may either raise or lower that class' bidding power, as appropriate. ; DKP for alts : Many veteran players have alts. Eventually, those alts may reach high levels, and that player may wish to play that alt in raids, and earn DKP. There are multiple ways to handle DKP for alts: :; Pooled DKP :: DKP is linked to that player, rather than to the character. All DKP is shared among all of that player's characters, and is limited by the point cap if one exists. :; DKP per char :: DKP is linked to that character. That character is effect a completely different player, with its own point cap. No DKPs may be transferred between a player's characters. :; One-time transfer :: The player transfers some or all (typically all) of their main's DKP to the alt, and then play works like DKP per char. This is usually done when a player no longer wishes to play their original main, but wants to retain all the DKP they've earned. = An Example = In this article, an example is given how to build a DKP from scratch. = EQ Origins = From EQDKP - About: ;What is DKP? :DKP, short for Dragon Kill Points, is a concept originally created by Thott of Afterlife, at a time where the only two raid targets in Everquest were two dragons, Lady Vox and Lord Nagafen. These points are awarded to each guild member as they attend a guild raid. The current DKP of each member reflects his or her priority for loot. When a member "wins" an item, they lose a DKP amount that reflects the value of that item. :DKP allows for an unbiased comparison between guild members when decisions about loot are to be made based on attendance and recent items that have been awarded. = DKP automation = Several DKP automation systems (DKPSoft for short) are available freely on the internet, the most widely known and used being eqDKP, nDKP, and AutoDKP. The purpose of DKPSoft is either to provide a web interface (usually in PHP & MySQL) for listing DKP standings, and/or to automatically calculate DKP points. Some DKPSoft offer an in-game mod that helps keep track of DKP and sometimes even remotely administrates DKP standings. Some live DKP standings examples: * Totus Solus (using WebDKP official site) * For The Lose (using nDKP official site) * Anarchy (using eqDKP official site) * Dark Destiny (using AutoDKP HTML postings official site) * Thor's Requiem (using ThorDKP, still in Beta with no official site) There are also addons that use Officer/Public notes to handle DKP. As such DKPs are tracked in real time and everyone has the latest standings readily available, in the expense on not being able to handle DKP tracking for people outside the guild: * Eternal DKP at Curse Gaming * EPGP - DKP reloaded (download addon at Curse Gaming or WoW Interface) = External links = * Extensive DKP information - In-depth explanation of DKP * WebDKP - A free addon and website for managing DKP Category:Game Terms Category:Loot Distribution Systems